“I decided to come up with my own meaning of success to take with me through my life, instead of what social media says or the definition of success that society creates during a certain trend in time. I believe I am successful because I’ve persevered with a dream I’ve had since I was a senior in high school: that dream was to become the best version of myself that I could be in all areas of my life. This means dedicating my life to self-growth in any way I could find. Success to me is being your true, authentic self, appropriately using your given gifts, building healthy, mutually beneficial relationships that lead to a good community, always striving to be a better person, and waking up every day to be excited for what you will face in the world. Today, I can genuinely say that I’ve gotten everything in life that I wanted. I am surrounded by supportive friends and a loving community of good people; I have lived more adventures than most people live in a lifetime; and I have a stable and thriving career that doesn’t require me to depend on anyone but myself.
The odds of succeeding in life were not always in my favor. Growing up with an incarcerated parent, I had extreme feelings of neglect, resentment, abandonment, and betrayal. I dealt with a tremendous amount of shame from publicity in the media, my peer group, and my own negative self-talk that told me my situation would never get any better. I often felt that I would never be successful in life and that I would always live in a constant state of fear and uncertainty.
A big part of my dreams and quest in life was this notion of freedom, as I often sat in prison during visiting hours and saw firsthand what it means for someone’s freedom to be stripped away. Within the years that followed, I traveled across the world reaching all seven continents by the time I was twenty-five. Some were medical mission trips, studying abroad in college, environmental trips, scuba diving trips, vacation with friends, or work trips. But it ended up being important to me to find a career that allowed me to travel to continue this freedom.
I’ve spent six years on the pediatric and adult abdominal transplant team at Duke University Hospital. I provide direct patient care to pediatric and adult transplant recipients and living donors, lead multidisciplinary rounds, perform codes when patients are crashing, conduct interviews, teach new employees and nurses about transplant, collaborate with other programs in the country, and attend conferences around the world to stay up to date with the latest in transplant medicine. I’ve helped my hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic with managing testing sites, antibody infusion clinics, and vaccine centers throughout the Duke Health system. I’ve worked for mission trips in underdeveloped countries and provided home care recommendations for inner city Durham, North Carolina. Each day, I provide healthcare to an under served and complicated medical population. I see people through the worst of their illness, knowing they won’t survive without a transplant.
I would tell today’s youth that the most important thing is to know that you are on your own unique journey.
Don’t compare yourself to your peers or the highlighted reels on social media. At the end of the day, it is important to let go of any resentment or anger you carry. Your parents or guardians are doing the best they can with whatever emotional capacity and self-awareness they have at this particular time. You can’t change the cards you are dealt with, but you do have more power in high school than you think. Every decision starting from that point has been continuously compounding itself with ripple effects into how my life looks today.
Know what you are good at and knowing what your gifts are and what drives you to a higher purpose, as that is the career you will likely thrive in. Success for yourself can look very different depending on who is sitting at your table. So instead of buying into the scheme of thinking more money or a bigger job title will make you happier, focus on having meaning and purpose. And surround yourself with people who build you up.”
Carlee Komoroski, 2011
Organ Procurement Physician Assistant, Duke University Hospital
